DIA 2025 Global Annual Meeting

Component Type: Session
Level: Intermediate

This session will explore the evaluation and integration of assistive technology for clinical document content creation. The panelists will describe experimental design, cross-functional team formation, and the adoption of tailored solutions.

Learning Objectives

Discuss and evaluate the potential benefits and challenges of implementing assistive technology, including both rule-based and AI-based solutions; Recognize the criticality of working with cross-functional teams to assess and implement technologies, ensuring successful adoption and return on investment; Recognize how to design a strategy for integrating technologies into existing systems and behaviors.

Chair

Ulrike Kochendoerfer, PhD

Speaker

Revolutionizing Medical Writing: Evaluating and Building the Assistive Technolgy Ecosystem
Matthew Renda, PhD, MS

Revolutionizing Medical Writing: Evaluating and Building the Assistive Technolgy Ecosystem
Aliza Nathoo

Component Type: Session
Level: Intermediate

In the ever-evolving pharma/biotech landscape, leaders face challenges that test their professional and personal resilience. The past year has seen a significant strain on the industry, marked by the disruption of new technologies (and expectations associated with it), the failure of promising compounds, economic pressures, and layoffs. As leaders, we are often left to shoulder the weight of these challenges, managing not only our own emotional burden but also the morale of our teams and the broader organizational impacts. This presentation, delivered by a panel of seasoned professionals in the regulatory writing space, will explore the often-unspoken loneliness of leadership in times of upheaval. We will share personal insights from our career journeys, addressing the ways in which leadership can feel isolating, especially when navigating industry setbacks. In addition, we will provide practical strategies for coping with these burdens, drawing from experiences in career pivots, reskilling/retooling, and personal resilience. We will discuss ways to maintain emotional well-being, foster collaboration, and lead with transparency, even in the face of industry-wide adversity. Attendees will leave with actionable strategies to support their teams and themselves, and insights into how to continue leading effectively in times of uncertainty.

Learning Objectives

Discuss the unique emotional and professional challenges faced by regulatory writing leaders during periods of significant change; Describe developing strategies for maintaining personal resilience and emotional well-being while leading teams through industry-wide setbacks and economic pressures; Recognize ways to implement actionable techniques for fostering skill development, reskilling, and collaboration to effectively support both individual and team growth during challenging times.

Chair

Robin Whitsell

Speaker

Panelist
Cathy Tyrrell

Panelist
Matthew Robillard

Component Type: Session
Level: Intermediate

This session will explore the FDA START program for accelerating rare disease therapies. We will invite companies who participated in the START pilot and a FDA representative.

Learning Objectives

Explain the objectives of the FDA START Program and its role in supporting rare disease development; Discuss how medical writers can support companies applying for and participating in the START program.

Chair

Robin Whitsell

Speaker

Panelist
Madiha Khalid, PhD

Panelist
Jhon Cores, PhD

Component Type: Session
Level: Basic

The ability to find, access, understand, and apply healthcare-related information (health literacy) plays a large role in global health outcomes. This session reviews health literacy and strategies to increase health literacy in a digital age.

Learning Objectives

Discuss the basics of health literacy and how they relate to health outcomes; Explain ways to apply new strategies for communicating healthcare information to a broad audience with a range of health literacy levels; Utilize digital tools to achieve strategic goals around healthcare information dissemination.

Chair

Chantelle Rein-Smith, PhD